In cooperation with the Center for Slovenian Literature and the Living Literature Festival in Ljubljana, Literature Across Frontiers is holding a translation workshop with poets writing in small and big languages: Antoine Cassar (Malta), Mamta Sagar (India), Stanislav Lvovsky (Russia), Veronika Dintinjana (Slovenia), Yasuhiro Yotsumoto (Japan), Yolanda Castaño (Spain, Galicia) and Xi Chuan (China). This meeting of minds, languages and voices will take place in the village of Dane in Western Slovenia, where on Thursday the 3rd June at 6pm there will be a reading at Sežana Library (www.sez.sik.si). On Saturday the 5th June at 8pm the poets will read at the Living Literature Festival in Ljubljana (www.skuc.org).

Born in London to Maltese parents in 1978, Antoine Cassar grew up between England, Malta and Spain, and worked and studied in Italy and France. In 2004, after a thirteen-year absence from the Maltese islands, he returned to the village of his family to re-learn a language he had long forgotten. He lives between Luxembourg and Madrid, working as a translator whilst completing a PhD on the origins of the Spanish sonnet. A writer of both Maltese and multilingual verse, in 2008 Cassar took part in the Puglia BJCEM, and recited his poetry with Nabil Salameh of the Italo-Palestinian musical duo Radiodervish. His book Muzajk, an exploration in multilingual verse (Skarta, 2008) was presented at the Leipzig Book Fair and at the poetry festivals of Copenhagen and Berlin. In September 2009, his work Merthba, a poem of hospitality was awarded the Grand Prize of the United Planet Writing Contest. Cassar's latest and most important poetic work, Passaport, printed in the form of an anti-passport for all peoples and all landscapes, has been published and presented in Maltese, Italian, French, English and Luxembourgish, with all profits donated to local associations providing legal and linguistic assistance to migrants and asylum seekers.

Mamta Sagar, India

Mamta Sagar, born in 1966, is an Indian poet writing in Kannada language. She has four collections of poems, four plays and a collection of essays on Gender, Language, Literature and Culture for her credit. She has conducted theatre and poetry workshops in India and abroad, culminating with readings and productions for women, children and people from marginalized communities. Her poems are translated into many Indian languages including English, apart from Vietnamese, Cebuano, Spanish and French and have seen publication in various journals and poetry anthologies in those respective languages. As a poet, Mamta has participated in Poetry Africa, Medellin, Cuba, Vietnam and Granada poetry festivals. With a specialization in Comparative Literature, Gender Studies, Kannada Literature and Cultural Discourse, she teaches at the Centre for Kannada Studies, Jnana Bharathi, Bangalore University and lives in Bangalore, India.

Stanislav Lvovsky, Russia

Born in 1972, Stanislav Lvovsky graduated from the chemistry department of Moscow State University, but discarded this background and moved into advertising and freelance journalism.. Lvovsky has published the poetry collection White noise, (1996), collection of short stories A word on flowers and dogs (2003), mixed collection of poetry, translations and prose poetry Three months of year two (2003), poetry collections Poems about motherland (2004), Camera Rostrum (2008) and novel The half of the sky (in co-authorship with Linor Goralik, 2004). Lvovsky is also the author of numerous translations from English (Vytautas Pliura, Charles Bukovsky, Leonard Cohen, Diane Thiel and others), both published and uncollected. Stanislav Lvovsky is also well known by regular appearances in periodicals (literature critisism and journalism) and a lot of Internet publications. Lvovsky was awarded at the 3rd Festival of Russian Free Verse and is also a laureate of «Moscow count» poetry prize (2003, the best poetry book of the year, published in Moscow). Poems by Stanislav Lvovsky were translated and published in English, French, Chinese, Italian, Georgian and other languages.

Veronika Dintinjana, Slovenia Born in 1977. In 2008 she won the Maribor poetry tournament award and the 6th Ljubljana poetry slam. In September 2008, her first poetry collection, Rumeno Gori Grm Forzicij, was published by Literatura and awarded Best First Book award at the 24th Slovenian Book Fair. Veronika has published poems and essays by Louise Glück, Muriel Rukeyser and Denise Levertov in her translation and co-translated the 20th century Irish poetry anthology, Čudovita usta. Dancing on the Edge of the World, a collection of essays by Ursula K. Le Guin in Veronika's translation was published in 2007. Veronika is a co-organizer of the monthly poetry reading series Mlade Rime hosted at Metelkova by Cultural Society Kentaver.

Yasuhiro Yotsumoto, Japan

Yasuhiro Yotsumoto was born in Osaka, Japan in 1959 and grew up mostly in Hiroshima. His first book of poetry A Laughing Bug was published in 1991, followed by 8 more collections in Japan including Hijacking Logos (2010), Starboard of My Wife (2006), and Afternoon of Forbidden Words (2003), which won the prestigious Hagiwara Sakutaro Award. His poems have been translated into more than 15 languages, including 3 books published in Australia, Serbia, and Romania. Yasuhiro also writes essays, literary criticism, and translates poetry from English to Japanese. He is the editor of Poetry International Web – Japan http://japan.poetryinternational.org, and of a Japanese poetry magazine Beagle.

Yolanda Castaño (Santiago de Compostela, GALICIA – Spain, 1977)

BA with Honors in Spanish Language and Literature and with media studies, apart from being a poet -who published her first book at the age of 17- Yolanda is a columnist in some of Galicia’s main journals and currently a co-hostess in a cultural daily quiz show in Galician TV. She has published 5 poetry books -most of them provided with bilingual (Galician-Spanish) editions- and a pair of compilations. She has won several poetry awards, amongst which, the National Critics Award, the Espiral Maior Poetry Award and the Ojo Crítico Poetry Award (best poetry book by a young author in Spain) stand out. She is a relevant cultural activist, regularly organising poetry readings and literary workshops. She has made her contribution to many written media, books with other authors, state and Galician anthologies, conferences and many readings inside and outside Galicia, around Europe and America. She has coordinated collective books, been curator in art and poetry exhibitions and written three poetry books for children. With a strong interest in the blending of poetry and other creative languages, she has been involved in many different experiences of fusion with music, performance, dance, visual and audiovisual arts. Some of her poems have been translated into ten different languages. www.yolandacastano.com

Xi Chuan, China

Xi Chuan (official name Liu Jun), poet, essayist, translator, was born in the City of Xuzhou, Jiangsu province, China, in 1963. He studied English literature at Peking University from 1981 to 1985, and later worked as an editor for the magazine Huangqiu (Globe Monthly) for eight years. He is now the professor of Classical Chinese Literature at the School of Liberal Arts, Central Academy of Fine Arts in Beijing. Xi Chuan is one of the most influencial poets in contemporay China. He has been well-known in the Chinese literary scene since his student days. In 1988, he founded, with friends, the unofficial poetry journal Qingxiang (Tendency), which was, however, banned after three issues. From 1990 to 1995 he worked as an editor for the unofficial magazine Xiandai Hanshi (Modern Chinese Poetry). He is now one of the two Chief-editors of the magazine Dangdai Gouji Shitan(Contemporay Poetry International). Xi Chuan has been awarded numerous prizes, including: in 1994, the Modern Chinese Poetry Prize; in 1999, one of the top ten winners at the Weimar International Essay Prize Contest; in 2001, the national Lu Xun Prize. A series of grants made his long visits abroad possible, in various places. He was the Curator for Chinese Poetry of the 2009 Frankfurt Bookfair.